A Walk to Remember
by Bastion Halera
Summary: Houtarou started to doubt his grey colored life. He feels like taking a walk outside for a bit, and guess who he bumped into. Bad summaries, and not so original nor relevant title. Rated T just in case. HoutaEru. COMPLETED.
1. A Walk to Remember

Hello there. Bastion speaking.

Second fanfic ever created. Yay.

It has been quite a while since the last time I've written a story, and this time, I've come up with a Hyouka fanfic. And yes, it's HoutaEru. Just how I love this pair :3 And yes, this a oneshot, and quite lengthy at that. Also, this the first I've used a first person view in story, so be easy on me.

I actually wanted to make this into a longer, multi-chapter story rather than a oneshot, but I ran out of ideas, so oneshot it is.

Enough ranting. Enjoy the fic, guys!

Disclaimer: I do not own Hyouka.

* * *

**A Walk to Remember**

Ah, just how much I love the bed. Especially to just slump yourself into it after another day of tiring school. That just feels heavenly.

But maybe not today.

Right after I dropped myself on the bed, I'm sucked into a deep thought, and repeatedly asked myself.

Did I really wanted to have a rose colored life?

Usually if Satoshi brought that up, I just let that slipped away, since I know what my answer would be. But today, I'm starting to question myself about it.

All this time, I've gone through my grey colored life and in my opinion, that's just what I wanted, living as an extremely average person that doesn't stand out in the community. Not socializing, and staying in my own world, unrelated with the others around me.

But all of that has changed since the time when I joined the classics club one year ago, last spring to be exact.

There's only a few person that would affect my life directly. I've been friends with Mayaka and Satoshi since junior high, and not even once have I ever doubted about my choice to have a grey colored life, so that leaves me with only one person that I could come up in my mind as a possible suspect.

Chitanda Eru.

Since the day I met her, all of my days has been full of her saying 'I'm curious!' And me solving the mystery that she is curious about, like the club room door case, the juumonji incident, and a lot of other cases, from the serious ones to the ridiculous ones.

And my opinion about this?

I downright hated this.

All she could do is beg for my help to appease her curiosity, and weirdly, she always have new mystery for me to solve everyday, as if she have an unlimited supply of mysteries. She is a big waste of energy.

But even though I hated this, somehow, deep inside of me...I enjoyed it. At first, I was like annoyed by this, but now, it's more like I want it. It would strange to have a day without her asking me for some mystery solving, and even though this never happened before, I don't think I could keep my calm if she asked for someone other than me to appease her curiousity. Maybe the reason I'm enjoying all of this is because of what she gaveme after I solved each of the mystery: the smile on her face. I don't know why, but seeing her smile everytime a case is solved, it makes me feel rather satisfied. I want to see her smile.

Is this what they call...love?

No, Houtarou! You're not the kind of person who would fall for someone like her! On top of that, romance is only for those with rose colored life, not for someone who had been living a grey colored life like me!

Or...maybe that's why I wanted to have a rose colored life? Because I want to relate to Chitanda? Romantically?

"Agh, all of this is driving me insane!" I unconsciously shouted that last sentence.

"Houtarou, if you have time to shout to yourself like that, then why don't you join me downstairs for dinner?" Just before I lost my sanity, my sis asked me to join her for dinner.

"Coming." Was the only respond I gave her before I changed my clothes and went downstairs.

I remained silent throughout the meal as always, until my sister started a conversation.

"Is there something that's bothering you, Houtarou? You seemed to be...bothered about something."

"No, it's nothing, Aneki."

"Are you sure about it? If there's something that you want to know, feel free to ask me, okay?" She sounded surprisingly caring, which is different from her usual nature. Well, it's not like I have anything to ask her...wait, maybe there is something that I need ask her.

"Aneki."

"Hmm?"

"Uh, is it true that rose colored life is better than grey colored life?"

My sister only stared at me. What? Don't stare at me like that. That's creepy. But before I could make any comment on her expression, the stare on her face changed into a smile, or maybe more of a smirk.

"I see. So Houtarou is interested in a rose colored life, eh? May I know the reason behind this? A particular girl, maybe?"

Upon hearing the word 'particular girl', I could feel my cheecks started to heat up. You've failed me, cheek. Don't blush too easily. I don't even know if I even like this 'particular girl' or not, and yet blood rushed to my head nonethless.

"N-no reason, I just wond-"

"Ah, was it just me or did you just blushed?" She cut my sentence halfway teasingly. Maybe I shouldn't have asked her about this. Cursed you and your sharp eyes, Aneki. My face would melt from blushing anytime soon.

"Well, putting that matter aside, I can't say that a rose colored life is better than the grey colored one, since it all came down to the eyes of the beholder." She stopped for while to sip her drink. "All I know is life could be a lot more colorful when you're in love with someone." She finished her sentence with a wink.

Life could be a lot more colorful when you're in love with someone, huh?

This might not sound coming from me, but I feel like taking a walk. I stood up from the table, headed to the front door, and left without saying any words, leaving my sister behind.

* * *

I could feel the cold breeze going through my shirt. It was spring already, and the flowers has blossomed, but the remnants of the icy winter wind was still in the air.

I walked around without any particular place to go. All I wanted to do is to think about what my sister said just now.

Am I really in love with Chitanda?

Well, she sure is one interesting girl, and in many ways, beautiful. That long, raven colored hair of hers which helped those purple orbs to stand out, that white and soft looking skin of hers that makes me want to caress it all day and that li-wait.

That makes me sound like I'm madly in love with her when actually I'm not even sure how I feel towards her!

Calm down, Houtarou. You're not that pathetic to have a fight with yourself in the middle of the night at the middle of the street, are you?

I really need to think about this thoroughly. And I will need to find a place to think about it.

Maybe the riverbed is a good place to clear up my mind.

As I walked towards the river, I just can't get rid of the images of Chitanda from my head, and found that my face is heating up everytime those images surfaced. I really shouldn't have asked Aneki about this.

Aftter about 10 minutes of walking, I finally reached the river that I was thinking about. The riverbed which used to be empty is now filled with sakura trees which were moved here not too long ago. The night wind blew some of the petals off from their branches, some landed on the riverbed, while some other landed on the river, creating soundless ripples.

I positioned myself near the riverbed, and started to lost myself in deep thought.

Is she the reason that I wanted to have a rose colored life? Is my life going to be a colorful one if I really did fall in love with her? Did she feel the same way towards me?

Those questions repeatedly surfaced on my mind, but I couldn't answer any of those, so I just sit there, staring blankly at the still river before me, until I heard someone moving behind me.

"Eh? Oreki-san?"

Actually, I didn't need to turn around to see the owner of that familiar voice, but my reflexes thought differently, so I turned my head anyway.

"Chitanda?"

"Oh, it really is you, Oreki-san!" She said, sitting next to me. "It's rare to see you here this late. What a coincidence!"

What a coincidence indeed. You're the last person that I want to bump into at time like this.

"Yeah, there's something that I really need to think about, so I came here to have some peaceful time of thinking."

"Really? May I know what it is? Maybe I could help."

I jumped back upon hearing her question. "N-n-nothing, really, it was j-just some personal m-matters." It was about you, Chitanda. Unfortunately, I'm not that spontenaous to just simply told you that.

She just gave me a confused look and tilted her head to her side, which I must admitted, looked kinda...cute.

Again, a shade of pink could be seen on my cheeks.

"Oreki-san, you're face looks a bit red. Are you sick or something?"

Why did she has to notice that out of all things?!

"N-no, I'm al-" before I could finish my sentence, I could feel something on my forehead, which turned out to be Chitanda's hand. I'm pretty sure my face has gotten even redder by now. I really need to get better control of my blushings.

"Hmm, your temperature seems to be normal..."

"I told you, I'm alright. I'm not sick or something." I said, removing her hands from my forehead while turning my head to hide the remaining blush from her.

"That's good to hear."

"Anyway, what brings you here?"

"Oh, about that, it's pretty much the same as you, I think. I just can't sleep, so maybe a little walk would help. I often do this when I have trouble sleeping." So, she come here when she has trouble sleeping, huh? I'll keep that in mind.

After that, both of us has stayed silent. We seemed to succumbed by our own thoughts. Only the quiet sound of the flowing river could be heard.

"Say, Oreki-san..."

"Hmm?"

"What do you think of me?"

I almost choked myself after hearing her question. That's too despicable to suddenly come up with that question out of nowhere, Chitanda! "W-what are you t-talking about so s-suddenly?"

She suddenly looked down, looking a bit sad. "No, it was just that, I'm wondering if you're annoyed by my behavior of always asking you to solve a lot of mysteries for my sake. I just...don't want to be a troublesome person. I have been wondering if my friends actually hated me for being like that..."

Oh, so that's what she mean. I stayed silent for a moment, thinking how I would answer her question. If you asked this question before, I would've blurted out that I downright hated her, but now, seeing her like that, and with the possibility that I might have a crush on her, I couldn't say that, could I?

"Um, not at all. I don't think I would hated you for something like that, nor Satoshi and Mayaka. Yes, you did asked me to solve a lot of questions, but In fact, that might've been something that I would enjoy doing everyday. After all, you're someone that I can't ignore."

She stared at me with a shocked expression. A moment later, I could see her smiling from the edge of my eyes. I think I've gave her the answer she was looking for.

"I'm happy to hear that, Oreki-san." She said as she stood up. "It's getting very late now, so I'm heading back now."

"Um." Was all the respond I gave to her. I still have my eyes staring at the river blankly. In the end, I couldn't answer my own question, huh? Well, it sure has gotten a bit late, so I'll head back in a-

"Ah, one more thing, Oreki-san."

I turned my head to see the person that called my name just behind me.

"I think you're a very special person in my life."

...

What?

Me? Special? She thought of me as someone special for her?

And that's when realization hit me.

That's it. That's the answer that I've been looking for.

I did want to have a rose colored life. And the sole reason to that is because I want to be considered special.

I want to be considered as a special person by Chitanda.

She is the reason why I've started to doubt my grey colored life. She is the reason I blushed countless times. She is the reason that I want to have a rose colored life.

I want to relate with her.

I know how I feel towards her now, so there's no turning back now.

"Ah, sorry, I must have blurted out something weird agai-"

I cutted her sentence midway. I don't care what she want to say. I grabbed her hand, pulled her towards myself, and do something that I have never expect to happen this soon.

I pulled her into a kiss.

I've always thought that a kiss would have no taste at all, but when I kissed her like this, I could taste the somewhat sweet sensation coming from her lips. I could get addicted to this.

I could feel that she was quite shocked the moment I kissed her, but it seems that she have relaxed and tried to kiss me back.

After what seems like an eternity for both us, we parted from each other, trying to catch our breath, while embracing each other in our arms.

"I like you, Chitanda."

"E-eh?" Looks like she still doesn't really get the situation.

"Your words have make me realized that I have wished for a rose colored life. And you're the reason behind that. I want to be someone special for you. When you said that I'm a special person for you, I knew that my feelings are telling the truth. I've fallen for you."

She didn't give any respond. Instead, she just burried her head into my chest, mumbling something inaudible.

"-too."

"What did you just say?"

"...When I said that you're a special person in my life, I also meant it this way." She repeated her mumbling shyly. I could see her face growing red with every words that came out from her mouth. "I like you too, Oreki-san."

That was probably the happiest moment of my life. The girl that I've fallen for liked me back. I could imagine seeing the shade of grey that has been surrounding me all this time starts to fade away, replaced with a shade of rosy color.

I think I have to say hello to my newly acclaimed rose colored life.

"Well, does that means that we're...d-dating now?" Man, I never thought the day when I use that word would come so soon.

"I-I guess you could p-put it that way..." She sounded just as nervous as me.

Then, for god-knows-how-long, we stayed in that position. And strangely, I can't find anyhting wrong with that. My mind only cared about Chitanda, who were right there in my arms.

"Uh, Chitanda?"

"Yes?"

"Shouldn't you be heading home now? It really has gotten very late."

"Oh, you're right!" She said with a bit of panicked tone in her voice. "I better head back now."

"Um, do you want me to walk you home?"

"..." She only gave me a mix of confused and shocked expression.

"What now?"

"That doesn't sound like you at all, Oreki-san."

"Well, that's what a...b-boyfriend would do, right?" I scratched my head while trying to hold in the blush from surfacing.

Chitanda let out a very small, almost inaudible, surprised shriek, but smiled anyway. "If that's what you want, then I won't refuse your offer."

* * *

We walked together to Chitanda's house in complete silence. Neither I or Chitanda tried to start a conversation. I have nothing to complain about that, but...

...Does she really need to lock my arm in hers? Thank godness it was already the middle of the night. If not, I would've fainted from  
embarassment.

Eventually, we reached Chitanda's house, or rather Chitanda's mansion in my opinion. She finally let go of my arms which were all sweaty by now.

"Thank you for walking me home, Oreki-san." She thanked me as she bowed down to me, just as polite as ever.

I gave her a small nod before I turned my body around to head back home, just to have my name called again.

"Um, Oreki-san?"

"What?"

"Ah, no, it was just, that..." She started fidgeting her fingers. "...May I call you H-Houtarou-kun from today onwards?"

If blush could kill, I swear I would've been dead by now.

"W-Well, go ahead if that's what you want, Chitan-" My words were cut halfway by her index fingers which she put on my mouth, signaling me to stop talking.

"It's Eru-chan." She said before she walked back inside her house, leaving the surprised me all alone.

I really have no idea how I will explain all of this to Aneki, Satoshi, and Mayaka.

* * *

Well, that's the end of it guys. I know, there is a bit of inconsistency at the later part, but I'm a newbie after all, so that's to be expected...

Maybe I'll add an epilogue chapter for this if I have some ideas.

Reviews are highly welcomed as usual.

Until then.

~Bastion~


	2. A Walk to Remember Epilogue Chapter 1

Hello. Bastion speaking as usual.

Finally I'm able to finish the epilogue chapter for this fic. Took me long enough.

And that also means this story is no longer a one shot. (yay!)

I'm sorry if this chapter is rather short, but this is all I could managed, considering the amount of free time I had.

Anyway, enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Hyouka.

* * *

**A Walk to Remember**

**~Epilogue chapter, first half~**

I could't get any sleep this past week. That's to be expected after what had happened near the river bank, which I could still remember clearly in my head.

"Ah, morning, Houtarou." My sister greeted me as I entered the dining room. "You're surprisingly early today. How's your sleep?"

I took a seat on the nearest chair from me and slumped down on it. "I could hardly closed my eyes." I responded as I took a bite of the bread in front of me.

"Really? You've been like this for the past week, ever since you took the night walk. Did something happened back then?"

Don't blush, cheek. I said that repeatedly to myself to prevent the blush from coming to my face.

Sadly, I miserably failed. And my brain teased me by flashing back what happened last night.

"N-No, it doesn't has anything to do with it."

"You stuttered. And blushed."

"So?"

"That means you're lying."

"Really, it's none of your business, Aneki."

"Aw, c'mon Houtarou~ You shouldn't keep a secret from your sibling."

"Some things are better left unknown, Aneki." I said as I finished my bread, drank down my milk, and stood up for the front door. And that's when I could feel a gripping hand on my arms.

"Please, Houtarou! Tell me!"

"It's a long story, Aneki!"

I succesfully broke out from her grip and quickly got out from my house. I need to get away as quick as possible, before she comes out to drag me back inside the house and forces me to tell the whole story.

See, I told you I don't know how I would explain this to Aneki.

I yawned a lot on my way to school. Like I said before, I couldn't sleep for the past few days. It has been a week since I started going out with Chi-, I mean, Eru-chan, and miraculously unnoticed by Mayaka nor Satoshi.

But recently, I was thinking wheter I should keep my relationship with Eru-chan a secret anymore. It's not easy to keep a relationship hidden from both of them, and I also felt a little guily inside for hiding a secret from my friends. I bet Eru-chan also fells the same way.

But on the second tought, Satoshi is the type of person who would notice small details. And since we already called each other on the first name basis, he should've noticed our relationship right away. I wonder why he didn't noticed it yet.

_'It's Eru-chan.'__  
_  
I facepalmed myself in order to cover the sudden emerging blush on my face upon suddenly recalling what she had said that night. Really, everytime I recalled that night's event, I can't help but flushed my face red.

Oh well, putting that matter aside, at least since I'm awfully early today, I could have a rather peaceful walk to sch-

"Morning, Houtarou-kun." Suddenly, a cheerful looking girl with a long dark hair greeted me as she biked past me out of nowhere, not giving me a chance to greet her back.

Great, I'm pretty sure this blush would stay on my face for quite some time. So much for a having a peaceful walk.

* * *

The rest of the day went just like any other days, except I spent more time to sleep than usual to pay my lack of sleep the night before. Thank god the teachers didn't notice me sleeping. If not, I would be in charge of cleaning duty now.

I walked to the clubroom, which since I don't know when, has become some kind of a habit.

When I slided open the door to the club room, I couldn't find Mayaka or Satoshi anywhere.

All I could find was the very same girl who greeted me this morning. Looks like she didn't notice, as she was rearranging the books on the upper shelf, which explained why she was standing on her toe on a chair.

I poked her on the shoulder.

"Eeeeeek!" She let out a quite loud shriek. And the next thing I know was she had lost balance and started to fall, back first, right at my direction, along with the books in her hand.

All of that happened very fast that I couldn't do anything about it, so I just closed my eyes, preparing myself for the inevitable.

I could hear a loud thud as we both fell down to the floor along with the sound of falling books. My head banged on the floor, not hard enough to cause a bleeding, but hard enough to accumulate intense pain on my head.

"Ouch..."

"Ah, Houtarou-kun! Are you al..." I don't know why but she stopped her sentence as her face started to grow red.

I'm trying to find out why she acted like that, and that's when I  
realized our position.

I was laying on the floor, and her back was on top of me, with my hands wrapped around her waist as if I were hugging a pillow. Looks like my hand had unconsciously, and maybe protectively, hug her to prevent her from falling hard on the floor, like what had occured to me just now.

I could tell that by now both of our faces had gone deep red. If she was tomato red, then I'm boiling red.

Both of us were too embarassed with the situation we were in that we cannot tell our body to move away from each other. Or, maybe we rather enjoy this position and chose not to move so soon.

And that's exactly when we got interupted.

"Yo, everyone!"

"Sorry we're bit late."

""Ah.""

The both of them stared at us.

The both of us stared at them.

...

...

...

"WHY ARE YOU HUGGING HER OREKI?!"

"WHAT ARE YOU TWO DOING?!"

"AH, IT'S NOT LIKE WHAT IT SEEMS, FUKUBE-SAN, MAYAKA-CHAN!"

That, was an utterly chaotic scene I'm witnessing. It almost feels like a scene out of a gag manga, where all the casts shouts at each other when they're shocked, if you know what I mean.

I will have to spend quite some energy to explain all of these.

* * *

"...so that's why we ended up in that position."

After five full minutes of shouting, mostly coming from the three of them, things finally settled down, and I could explain what had really  
happened.

"Ah, so that's what happened." Satoshi said as he leaned his back to his chair.

"Yeah, but you two could've asked more calmy, rather than shouting."

Mayaka folded her arms."Who wouldn't be shocked to see two person, one being a guy and the other being a girl, who are not even dating, hugging on the floor of the clubroom in the middle of the day?" She shot me an angry glare.

"Ahahaha. She does have a point." Satoshi said as he stretched his hand backwards. "But who would've thought that Houtarou is caring enough to 'unconciously' hugged the falling Chitanda-san." He added with a smirk, which was clearly directed to me.

"Well, it's not my fault that Eru-chan fell right on to me."

"But you're the one who surprised me, Houtarou-kun."

"Wait, Houtarou. Did you just said...Eru-chan?"

Finally, he noticed that nickname.

"And Chitanda-san. Did you just call him...Houtarou-kun?"

And that nickname too.

But I don't think I'm ready to tell them the truth.

"...No, you're hearing things."

"I'm pretty sure I heard that one ri-"

"Satoshi, don't you have a student council meeting to attend?"

"That thing could wait. I want to confirm what I heard first."

Wow, how responsible of him to put this kind of thing before his student council duties.

Anyway, we're cornered now. Two pair of eyes, which respectively belongs to Mayaka and Satoshi, glared at us, mostly at me though, waiting for an explanation.

"Houtarou-kun, maybe it's better to tell them the truth."

I gave my mind a couple of seconds to think about Eru-chan's suggestion. Maybe she's right. If I keep on denying my relationship with her, I'm also denying my own feelings about her.

I let out a deep sigh, which means I agreed to her idea. I can't and must not deny my own feelings.

"Well, the truth is, Mayaka, Satoshi..."

I took a pause to look at Eru-chan, giving a look to question her if she's really sure about this, which she answered with a simple nod. And thus, I continued my sentence.

"...We're dating now."

...

...

...

"WHAAT?!"

Oh god, not this kind of reaction again. I already had enough shoutings to hear today.

And I will also need some extra energy for some extra explanation to do.

I know having a relationship would be tiring, but I didn't expect it to be this tiring.

* * *

If you noticed the title, then yeah, this is the first half of the epilogue. So please stay tuned for the last half of the epilogue chapter!

~Bastion~


	3. A Walk to Remember Epilogue Chapter 2

Hi there, Bastion here.

Before I started this chapter, I'll give any of you angry readers 5 minutes to imaginatively kill me for the the super late update again.

...

Okay. Time's up. Now, the story.

This will be the last chapter of "A Walk to Remember", meaning there's no more updates for this story (+1 for stating the obvious).

I don't know, but I cant really say that I'm really happy with this. The first half is alright, but there seems to be inconsistency near the end of this chapter, and unfortunately, my mind doesn't want to cooperate with me to make a better ending than this one, even though I'm sure I could've pulled this off better, so sorry if I dissapointed you guys.

Enough talk. Let the fic begin.

* * *

**A Walk to Remember**

**~Epilogue chapter, last half~**

Summer has almost come to an end. My 40 days of peace and laziness is about to close its curtains for this year. There were only about 4 days left until school starts, so usually I starts to prepare all my school books and stationery at this time around every year.

And somehow, this year, that routine is no longer valid.

Instead of preparing the books and enjoying the rest of the summer while it lasts, I was laying defenseless on the bed, blanket pulled up to cover my whole body, my face's red, a wet towel on my forehead, and I'm sweating a lot.

Not to mention there's someone beside my bed since...a few hours ago, I think. I didn't count, so it's a shot in the dark.

"How do you feel, Houtarou-kun?"

"Better...I think.."

Just in case you're wondering who I'm talking too, it's Eru. Since it was Saturday, she had voluntarily came to my house after my sister called her on purpose to let her know about my illness. She also said that she'll take care of me for the rest of the day, or at least until my sister came back from work.

"That's good to hear that." The soft smile she added at the end of her sentence makes her look a lot prettier and succesfully made me blush a bit, but I don't think she noticed that because my face is literally red from the fever right now.

Done with the 'how pretty Eru's smile is' thought, I moved on to the next thing in my mind: Just how pathetic I'm.

Maybe we need to turn the clock back a few days in order to know what caused my pathetic situation I've gotten myself into.

* * *

"So, how is it, Satoshi?"

The now drenched figure in front of me responded immidiately, "Whew, the rain is pouring very hard! It poured just as if there's no tomorrow!"

"I've warned you. And why don't you just wait there until the sky cleared up?" I'm not lying. I already told him that it will rain anytime soon and that it would be a hard one, yet he is still so persistent to buy the club needs from the store 5 minutes away from school.

"I thought that the rain would only last for some minutes, so I chose to ran through the rain. And I also thought I've run fast enough to arrive at school before it gets even bigger." You've lost since the moment you started running, Satoshi. No one can win against mothernature. "At least I managed to keep the things we need from getting wet."

"I'll praise you for that one." I mean, he's completely drenched, yet the things inside the plastic bags remains dry. That's an acheivement. I took the bag from his hand and put it on the table.

"Where's Chitanda and Mayaka?"

"They said that they need some books from the library, so they're looking for it right now."

"And you just sat here, reading your novel the entire time while your girlfriend and her friend are looking for some particular books among the sea of books called the library?"

"Pretty much."

"What a helpful boyfriend you got here, Chitanda-san."

"I've offered her my help, but she told me to stay here and wait for you to come back. I'm only following what she said to me."

"That changes everything. What an obidient boyfriend you got here, Chitanda-san."

"You made me sound like a pet." He only chuckled at my comment on his words. I turned my attention back the book in my hand, because watching my friend trying to dry his drenched clothes with a small handkerchief seems to be pointless.

Not long after that, the other two members of Classical Literature Club finally came back from the library with books in their hands. "Oh my, Fukube-san! You're drenched!"

"Hehe, the results of impatience."

"You could've just wait there and give us a call. That way, we could meet there and continue our work tomorrow." The brown haired girl commented on his situation in a similar way as me. Although her comments sounds stoic, I could sense a bit of worriness in her sentence.

"I left my phone here."

"Really...do something about your forgetfulness already!"

The chattering lasted for about another 5 minutes before we started on our research on the book Eru and Mayaka got from the library and. Unfortunately, I can't stay here for too long.

"I need to do some errands at home, so I'll go back first."

And that's when all of a sudden they all gasped.

"...what?"

"Did I missheard something? Houtarou? Errands? Both of them just don't mix!"

"Are you really doing an errand, Houtarou-kun?"

"Something's wrong with you, Oreki."

"If my sister had not forced me to do it, then I would prefer staying here and doing the research since it's less energy consuming. Besides, my angry sister is the last person I'll want to handle." All of them responded with an 'oh, I see' and somewhat relieved expression. Was it that weird for me to some errands, really?

"Okay, then I'll be on my way then." I headed out from the clubroom towards the main entrance. I opened my umbrella and walked into the rain. Although the wind still helped the droplets to wet a bit, the umbrella did managed to block a considerable amout of water that was supposed to be pouring on my body.

And after 15 minutes of walking, I noticed something.

"Crap, I forgot to put back my keys that I put on the table when I looked for my novel back at the class." What an idiot I am. Just how could I possibly forgot something important? Without that I can't even enter my house, not even talking about doing the errand.

Which means I need to go back to school to pick my keys. Great. Just great. There goes some of my energy supply for today.

I walked my way back to school, still grumbling at myself for wasting more energy than I should be.

Upon reaching the school gate, I saw a familiar figure standing at the entrance to the school building. A way too familiar figure.

"Eh? Houtarou-kun? I thought yo-"

"I forgot something in the classroom, so I'm here to pick it up. And what're you doing here? I thought you're still doing the research with Mayaka and Satoshi."

"My mom suddenly called me and asked me to go home immediately since she needs my help, so I was about to head back when I..."

"When you...?"

"I-I forgot to bring my umbrella, and I cannot head back."

Somehow I'm not very surprised with that. "I see. Then want to share an umbrella with me? Mine's big enough to cover both of us."

"Eh? Can I?"

"Why not? Here, hold this for while. I'll take my stuff that I left in the classroom."

I climbed up stairs, walked to my classroom, take my keys, and walked back down to the entarance, all under 5 minutes. Hey, that's a new record for me.

"Shall we?" I said as I took my umbrella from her hand and started to walk into the rain. Again.

"A-Ah, okay." She startled a bit at the start, but she managed to match my pace eventually.

But along the way back, there's only the four of us.

An embarassed me, a shy Eru, a wet umbrella, and an awkward silence.

I know, I was the one who offered her to share the umbrella together, but I never thought it would be this embarassing to do this with your girlfriend. Not to mention she's acting a bit shy, which just add more awkwardness between us.

Eventually, we stayed silent until we had to part ways at an intersection.

"I guess will have to part ways here. Thanks for sharing an umbrella with me, Houtarou-kun."

"Don't mention it. But how will you continue the rest of your walk? You didn't bring an umbrella with you. You'll get wet."

"Maybe I'll just have to run through the rain, then."

I shouldn't be surprised, knowing what kind of person Eru is. If I'm still the old me, I would just responded with an 'um' and let her get drenched in the rain.

"See you tomorrow, Houtarou-kun."

At that time, I was having a battle with myself in my mind.

_So that's it? You're going to let your girlfriend get wet?_

So what am I supposed to do? Gave her my umbrella?

_What else could it be?_

But I might get wet.

_You're not a cat. You're not supposed to be scared with water or with the idea of getting wet._

What if I get sick?

_You sounded like a little girl._

Man, that protective boyfriend side of me is really persistent. It's the exact opposite of my lazy self.

By the time I finished my battle of thoughts with myself, she had started to ran through the rain, but luckily my boyfriend side managed to take over my mind and grabed her hands just right before she became drenched.

"Wait, Eru."

"What is it?"

"Use this."

"Eh?" She stared at me an awe,"But what about you, Houtarou-kun? You'll get wet."

"I'll manage with that somehow. I don't want you to get sick."

"But I-

"I insist, Eru." I handed the umbrella to her. "And besides.." I could feel a blush crept to my face. "...A boyfriend's duty is to make sure his girlfriend okay, right?"

Lost for words and blushing from my words, she kept silent for a few moments before she finally take the umbrella from my hand. Took her long enough to do that.

"Remember to return it tomorrow, though."

"Umm, Houtarou-kun?"

I turned my head to face her direction.

"Thanks for lending me the umbrella...and take care." She said that with a little tint of pink on her cheeks, and somehow that that makes her cuter.

I put on a small smile, a really small one that usually would go unnoticed, at the sight before me. "I will." With that, I entered the downpour and started running home in the midst of the rain.

Being a boyfriend is not easy at all.

* * *

That's the gist of what had happened. And just a day after my self-proclaimed heroic attempt to save Eru from getting sick, it was me instead that got sick, just like what I thought. Talk about having a very fragile body. Sometimes I hate this weak part of me.

On the bright side, Eru had been seeing me everyday after school, and even accompany me for the whole day like now. I won't say this out loud, but I'm delighted to have her to come and see me everyday.

"Uhm, Houtarou-kun... I'm sorry for making you to go through this."

"Eru, that's the fourth time you've said that today..."

"But it was my mistake th-"

"And for the fourth time, I'll say that it's not your fault that I got sick."

Afterwards, she diverted her attention to the floor, looking down at it with a tint of sadness on her face. "Even if you say that... I don't think you can let myself get away just like that..."

That's very like her.

I let out a small sigh. "So what do you want me to do?"

"I want you to at least give me a punishment."

...Wha?

"Wait, we're not living in the age where punishments are given for every mistakes, you know."

"But if you don't give me one, I will feel bad about it!"

No, don't give me that teary expression, Eru! I won't be able to refuse that! But what kind of boyfriend punishes his girlfriend over something small like this? Ahh, my mind's going to broke!

I need to calm my mind first.

"So...I only need to give you a punishment, right?"

She nodded, looking down.

"Any kind of punishment?"

She nodded again, still looking down.

I sighed yet again as I readied myself to give her the punishment. "Close your eyes, Eru."

As she did what I told her...

*THUD*

"..eh?"

"Done. That's your punishment."

"B-But, that's-"

"You asked for any kind of punishment. So I did. Your punishment is a light hit on your head."

"And that's it?"

"I can't possibly hit the girl who've been taking care of me when I was sick, can I?"

She takes a little time to digest what I was saying before she finally got it and blushed as her reactions to my sentence.

Suddenly, she buried her face on my shoulder, and mumbled something."...-ot"

"Did you just say something?"

"...You don't need to said it that clearly, idiot."

I raised my eyebrows hearing that. "...What's with that tsundere-like attitude?"

She didn't say a thing, and instead, she tighten her grip on my arm and buried her face even deeper onto my shoulder.

Well, looks like I have to stay in this position for a little while longer.

* * *

"-rou."

Uh, shut up. I'm still sleepy here.

"Houtarou."

Eh? That voice...Aneki?

"Wake up, Houtarou. It's morning already."

I tried my best to open my eyes to see aneki beside me. "So, how do you feel now, Houtarou?"

"Better, I guess. I think the fever is gone now."

"Great. Wait right here, I'll make you breakfast. Do you want anything in particular?"

"Up to you, Aneki."

"Okay then. Oh, and don't make too much noise or movements. You don't want to wake her up, do you?"

...Her? Now that's she said it, I could feel some weight on my right hand. I decided to take a look at this so-called weight, which turned out to be...a sleeping girl's head.

"Eh? Eru?!" I let out a surprised shriek at my discovery, and tried to keep it as low as possible so it won't wake her up. "What is she doing here so early in the morning, Aneki?"

"What do you mean early in the morning? She had been there since last night."

"Eh?"

"You don't know? Oh yeah, you we're asleep last night. I came home pretty late last night, you were already fast asleep, but she's still looking after you even when you're asleep. And when I told her to go home..."

"...She asked you to let her to stay here for the night." I said that while looking at here peaceful sleeping face on my hand. "Just how stubborn could she be..."

"As expected of her boyfriend. You do know her really well." She said those words in a teasing manner, but I didn't give a thing about that and brushed it off.

"It would be weird if she didn't asked that. She's the epitome of stubborness afterall. By the way, did she informed her family about staying here?"

"Don't worry, she had told them last night. Well then, I'm heading to the kitchen. I'll leave her to you, Houtarou."

"Wait, Aneki."

"What is it?"

"Why did she go through all this trouble to look after me? I only caught a little cold, that's all."

She stayed silent before finally chuckled at my my question. "What's so funny about it, Aneki?"

"You know what, Houtarou? Frankly, I asked her the same thing last night."

"And her answer was?"

"She said 'I just wanted to do that' or something along that line."

As Aneki made her silent exit, I was still keeping my eyes focused on her face. She did this for my sake? Just because I got a light cold? Was she really that worried about me? All of those questions keeps popping in my mind.

She's not the type of person whose actions are understandable. She's more like a classical literature, only some people can really understand her.

And I'm not that person who really understand her.

I might be her boyfriend, but that doesn't mean I've come to the point where I could understand her fully. I still found some of her actions weird. Those actions are somehow hard to understand, like this one for instance.

But maybe, just maybe, I'm starting to understand the reason behind her actions.

She just wanted to do that.

She's not a liar. She's a super honest person. All of her actions are the results of her honesty. She doesn't lie to herself. What she wants to do, she'll do it without hesitations. When other people keeps on resisting themselves from doing something because they're afraid about what the others might be thinking, she on the other hand doesn't care about what others might be thinking of her.

That's also the reason why she didn't want to go home last night.

She wants to stay by my side. She doesn't care what others, in this case myself, Aneki and her family, might think about that. She wanted to stay by me, so she stayed by me.

And the best thing about that?

She doesn't feel bothered by that.

At this point, I just cannot avert my eyes from her. She went through the trouble of staying up late just so she could keep her eyes on me. She really cared about me. Moreover, she did all that without feeling bothered. It's her own will.

I know that all of this is only my own conclusions of her behavior, but still...I'm at a loss for words.

"Um.."

Huh? Did she mumbled something?

"Don't worry...I'm here..Houtarou..-kun.."

...

So her honesty keeps following her even in her sleep.

This time, I scratched my head and chuckled at her words. "Really..."

I moved my hands and stroked her hair for a bit. Then, I moved my hands to her cheek and caressed it ever so lightly that she won't wake up. Lastly, I gave her a pat on her head.

"I'm really glad that I have you as my girlfriend..."

**~END~**

* * *

Ah, glad this finally finished. Took me forever to get this done. I even add a bonus of a Tsundere Eru (only for 1 line, though :p)

Anyway, huge thanks for those who went through the trouble to write me a review. I really appreciate that. I hope this last chapter will live up to your expectations.

Lastly, I just cannot thank you guys enough for reading this story. Thanks a lot guys.

'Till next time!

~Bastion~


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